Trump intervention comment may be boon to Huawei CFO
VANCOUVER/HONG KONGHuawei executive Meng Wanzhou, released on bail on Tuesday to await a ruling on US extradition at one of her luxury Vancouver homes, may have received welcome ammunition in court from an unlikely source - US President Donald Trump.
Mr Trump told Reuters he would intervene in the US Justice Department's case against Ms Meng if it would serve national security interests or help close a trade deal with China.
Legal experts and Canadian officials said the comments could allow Ms Meng's lawyers to contend her prosecution is politically motivated.
"He has handed her lawyers an opportunity to argue that the prosecution has been politicised and the extradition proceedings should end," said professor of international law Robert Currie at Dalhousie University in Halifax.
US prosecutors accuse Ms Meng, chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies, of misleading banks about Iran-linked transactions, putting them at risk of violating US sanctions. Ms Meng says she is innocent.
If a Canadian judge rules the case is strong enough, Canada's Justice Minister must decide whether to extradite Ms Meng to the US.
The Justice Department bristled at Mr Trump's remarks. Asked about it on Wednesday, Assistant Attorney-General John Demers said his department was not "a tool of trade".
"What we do at the Justice Department is law enforcement. We don't do trade."
Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said the legal process should not be hijacked for political purposes, and Ms Meng's lawyers would have the option of raising Mr Trump's remarks if they decided to fight extradition.
"Our extradition partners should not seek to politicise the extradition process or use it for ends other than the pursuit of justice and following the rule of law," she said.
Professor Bennett Gershman at Pace Law School in New York said it was hard to see how national security or foreign policy could justify a possible intervention by Mr Trump.
"It seems like Trump is using this case as a bargaining chip in our trade deals and for financial gains," Prof Gershman said.- REUTERS
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